Can aeroponics help potato farmers?
Can aeroponics help potato farmers?
At LettUs Grow, we are keen to explore the different ways aeroponic technology can benefit farmers and food production. During a work placement through the Eden Project’s degree programmes, intern Catherine conducted experiments looking into how aeroponics could help potato farmers around the world. Here’s what she found:
Feeding the world
With the population set to rise to nearly 10 billion by 2050 and our expected life span increasing, it raises the question - will there be enough resources on Earth to support the world’s population? (Graham, 2019)
As technology and medicine are allowing us to live longer, the increase in population is putting strain on our land, water, minerals and food. It is estimated that traditional agriculture consumes 70% of freshwater, with this number reaching as high as 95% in many developing countries (FAO, 2017). Land is also becoming increasingly un-farmable, due to the decline of soil quality caused by the use of pesticides and soil-borne diseases. These diseases can be caused by waterlogged soils, which lead to root rot and diseased micro-organisms that can live in the soil until a suitable host is planted - these microorganisms can then occupy the plant. If these infected crops are replanted, then diseases can spread and cause widespread damage to soils.
What is a ‘seed’ potato?
Potatoes are also the third most consumed food crop in the world - after rice and wheat. However, because they are vegetatively propagated (grown from a piece of the original crop) they are also prone to spread infection and disease. This is because you are essentially cloning the potato each time, so diseases can be easily passed along from the parent potato.
In order to grow potatoes, you should grow from a ‘seed potato’ rather than the type of potato you might find in a supermarket. This is because supermarket potatoes are treated with sprout inhibitors and other pesticides, but also because seed potatoes must be certified as ‘disease free’ by the government’s ‘Seed Potato Classification Scheme.’ Growing from a certified seed potato means that you will not introduce diseases into your crop and your soil. However, in many parts of the world, farmers may struggle to find certified, healthy seed potatoes without paying a lot of money for them.
Aeroponics is a method of growing without soil - and here lies an opportunity to efficiently grow potatoes that are virus free.
How Catherine grew potatoes aeroponically:
• Chitted seed potatoes were positioned within the dark root chamber of an aeroponic system
• A nutrient solution was supplied to mother tubers in the form of a mist, which was recirculated around the aeroponic system
• As the potato stems increased in height they needed to be supported with a wire frame, to prevent the stems from crossing and reducing air circulation
• The potatoes were ready to harvest after 16 weeks in the aeroponic system and were detached from the stolons using a pair of sterile secateurs
Benefits of aeroponics
Many of the benefits of growing potatoes aeroponically mirror the benefits of growing other crops in this way. The amount of water being used is reduced by 90% as the nutrient solution was recirculated and therefore recycled through the system, and there is no need to use environmentally damaging pesticides. The higher exposure of root aeration within the root chamber helps to produce a higher yield weight of crop, and growing potatoes in an indoor farm or polytunnel also prevents the crop being affected by high levels of rainfall or hot weather.
More specifically, a soilless growing medium allows for a convenient and clean harvest that allows all of the potato tubers to be collected more easily. Perhaps the most pertinent benefit is that aeroponic growing can help to achieve virus free seed potatoes, due to the lack of soil medium. The International Potato Center (CIP) has been developing aeroponic technology as a means of producing pre basic potato seed, noting that this method results in higher yields (up to 10 times higher) and greater profits. A method of producing seed potatoes that maximises the chances of growing disease-free potatoes and is more cost efficient could enable and improve access to high-quality, certified seed potatoes for farmers all around the world.